Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!


Trick or Treat! Love your favorite little monkey! Nolan Bradley

Friday, October 30, 2009

Bedrest Blizzard

This week has been quite eventful for us! We've learned to expect the unexpected! On Saturday morning, while Mark was working an event, I had a little surprise pre-term labor! The next 48 hours were spent in the hospital hooked up to monitors, receiving shots, taking pills, enduring regular contractions, and praying for health! Fortunately, everything is looking fine now. I am on bedrest for at least this week and possibly longer. The contractions have stopped for the most part due to 2 VERY FUN medications that I take every 3 hours. The baby is kicking up a storm and after all the testing done in the hospital we found out he is now 5 lbs. 6 oz. So we are just praying that he keeps cooking for a few more weeks! I have an appointment on Monday to check to make sure there has been no change and then hopefully I can go back to work for the last 3 1/2 weeks until I track off just before Thanksgiving!

On top of this excitement, Denver got 24 inches of snow dumped on us this week! It feels a bit more like Christmas then Halloween! It is very pretty and a blessing in disguise because Mark was able to work from home and help me out around the house and with Nolan since I'm supposed to be resting for most of the day! It has proven to be very challenging to be on bedrest with a toddler! But we have had a LOT of wonderful help! Thank you to everyone who has watched Nolan, stopped by to visit, cooked us a meal, and most importantly prayed for us during this uncertain time! We really appreciate all the love and support we have felt this week!

Here are a few pictures from our snowed in days at home!

Watching a little Sesame Street! Nolan loves to plop down on the ground to watch a show with his blankie and favorite stuffed animal- the Texas A&M mascot!

Nolan sits in a booster seat at the table with us now! It's a bit messier, but he feels like such a big boy! Here he is enjoying the yummy spaghetti my good friend Jess made for us this week! He was in HEAVEN!

Helping Daddy shovel us out!

On Wednesday night we carved pumpkins, watched Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin", roasted pumpkin seeds, and enjoyed some hot chocolate! Mark's with some much needed Amaretto after a busy week!

Nolan thought he should try to eat the seeds and guts!

Mark did a great job drawing and carving an Elmo pumpkin for Nolan! He did it free hand without a stencil! It turned out great!

Nolan absolutely adores his "Elmo pumpin". He wants to sit by it all the time and points out the "eyes, nose, mouf, hat (the stem top) and back".

Being silly while Daddy is working in the basement! As you can see, our house is a little dusty and dirty due to all the construction. Needles to say, his blankie was washed immediately after playing downstairs! But we are counting down the days and weeks until it's all done! It will give us so much more space just in time for baby!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Awesome Autumn Adventure

Yesterday we headed over to a local nursery in our neighborhood- Tagawa Gardens. They were having a Pumpkin Festival, so we thought it would be the perfect day for some Fall Fun! Since Nolan is under 2 years of age, he was free and adults were only $3! So for a whopping total of $6, we had a great autumn adventure! Last year we paid 3 times that for a less than stellar, muddy, pumpkin patch experience...so we were pumped about our new find, and SO close to home! Check out the pics below!

"Animals, Animals, Animals!" Nolan was laughing and clapping and patting all the animals in the petting zoo! Meanwhile, what was his mommy doing? Feverishly taking pictures, carefully trying not to step in poop, skirting around hairy beasts, and sniffling! Not quite sure he is my child!

"Pat, Pat" Nolan was fearless! Daddy likes animals a bit more than I do, but was afraid Nolan would get kicked by the pony or pooped on by the llama and was always moving Nolan out of the way of any rear ends!

"Duck, quack, quack" I can handle these feathered friends!

And maybe this hard shelled reptile! "Tu-tle"

SMILE! Our little scarecrow!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin to decorate. This mama had to let go and let Nolan choose whichever one he wanted! Although, I did require that it had a stem!

Working hard to place his stickers, feathers, pipe cleaners, and such on his "pup in".

Waiting in line for his balloon snake!

Planting flowers in jack-o-lantern pots

Getting his hand painted- Daddy and Nolan both got a pumpkin. We tried for the face, but Nolan wasn't havin' it! The pumpkin got smeared 2 seconds later, but he still showed his orange blob off proudly!

A little spooked by Frankenstein!

Snappin' a pic. with the scarecrow

So happy with HIS decorated pumpkin! What a fun day!


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

SURPRISE!

It was just another Thursday, Nolan and I played all day, we watched Jax, I went to Women's Group. Around 10 o'clock p.m. I walked back in the door after catching up with the girls and found Mark waiting for me at the entryway. He had been saying all day that he had a surprise for me, and now was my time to cash in! As I turned the corner into the living room, there was my MOM!!! We're not really sure what I said- I think I was speechless and then said something like "What are you doing here!" I ran to give her a hug and seconds later my sister came bounding down the stairs! "AAAHHHHH!" Seeing my mom was awesome, but an even bigger surprise was that my sister got her booty on a plane to come see me!

I guess their flight was delayed and they only pulled in the driveway about 1 minute before I did that night! Close call! But great that it all worked out!

We stayed up late that night talking about all their plans and how they pulled the whole thing off without me even having a clue! I did think it was weird when earlier in the week Mark was cleaning the guest bathroom toilet and telling me I should get some more shampoo and conditioner for that shower- you know, because my parents would be here in December, we should clean now and I better run out and stock up because there would be no other time to do it! Mark is so smooth! But really, I had NO IDEA!

We spent the weekend playing with Nolan, shopping, baking, cooking, and trying to stay warm! It was a cold and frosty weekend! But best of all it was just SO wonderful to have some good girl time and extra help with Nolan! I am so thankful to have such a close, loving, fun, and supportive family!

Nolan absolutely ADORES them and is still looking around the house for them saying "Auntie? Auntie? Gamma? Gamma?". He now wants to play the "Stinky Sock" game all the time- throwing his socks at me, screaming "yucky", and laughing hysterically- thanks Auntie Mal for that fun game! And he LOVES the "coo koos" grandma taught him how to bake!

Great memories were made. Thanks Momela and Sister for spending your Columbus Day weekend with us! We LOVE you!